Apparatus for reenforcing doors



Aug. 22, 1933. D 1,923,961

APPARATUS FOR REENFORCING DOORS Filed April 14, 1930 INVEN TOR.

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Patented Aug. 22, 1933 inurnnsrATEs I 1anwl rsnr or on 1 Claim.

I'his invention relates to improvements in apparatus for reenforcing and strengthening doors 7 and the like may be called an anti-sag apparatus,

/ Large doors such as swinging garage doors are inclin d, by reason of their weight, to sag and thereby become out of shape. door thus injured but it tends of course to bind against adjacent parts when closed.

principal object of this invention is the provision of apparatus arranged for attachment to a door and which is adapted to strengthen and support the same and hold it against sagging. The novel features of the invention consist in the provision of a pair of members for attaching to diagonally opposite corners of a door and a tension member extending therebetween which may be tensioned more or less to support a lower corner of the door from the upper diagonal corner thereof.

The form of the invention at present preferred is adapted for broad application, but for the purpose of disclosure will be described in connection with-the accompanying drawing in which,

Fig. 1 is an elevational View of a door hingedly connected to a support such as the jamb of a building and has the apparatus of the invention attached thereto.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the apparatus of the invention at a larger scale, and

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of a modified form of part of the apparatus.

7 Referring to the drawing the invention will now be described in detail.

For purposes of explaining the invention a door is represented at 2 which is hingedly mounted in the usual way on a support 6 by hinges 4. The support 6 in this case represents the jamb of a garage doorway while a floor is shown at 8 and a runway is indicated at 10.

Such doors of garages and the like are usually of large dimensions and correspondingly heavy and are therefore prone to sag or become distorted. That is the side of the door remote from the hinges tends to drop relative to the hinged side so that the lower side thereof scrapes and binds on the runway and door sill.

The apparatus of the invention is adapted to overcome the sagging by reenforcing and retaining the door in its proper shape.

The apparatus consists in general of a bracket member 12 and a plate member 14 secured to D diagonally opposite corners of the door 2 and having a tension rod 16 extending therebetween.

Not only is the.

As the bracket member 12 is secured to the upper corner of the hinged side of the door and the plate 14 secured to the diagonally opposite 1ower corner of. the door, the latter corner is supported and held against sagging which is desirable.

The bracket 12 preferably consists of a flange 1'? having an inner end 18 turned upwardly with respect thereto so as to form a leg. The flange 17 is provided with openings 30 and 32 therethrough for receiving screws whereby it may be secured firmly in place on the door as shown in Fig. 1.

Braces on the bracket 20 extend forwardly from the leg 18 thereof at opposite sides and are arranged with lower faces 22 for bearing on a door and thereby support the leg 18 against any tendency to bend forwardly under the pull of the tension rod.

A threaded adjusting screw 24 passes loosely through a suitable opening in the leg 18 and has a rod eye 26 at the inner end thereof. A nut 28 threaded on the screw is arranged to bear on a side of the leg 18 as shown. By turning the nut the screw is adjusted relative to the bracket.

The plate 14 comprises a main body portion 36 and a relatively offset portion 38. The portion 36 is provided with openings 44 and 46 therethrough for receiving screws whereby the plate may be secured to the face of a door while the portion 38 is provided with openings 40 and 42 for receiving the extremity of the rod 16.

The rod 16 at is upper end passes through the eye in the adjusting screw 24 and is twisted as shown to form a loop connected to the screw. The lower end of the rod 16 extends downwardly through the opening 40 in plate 14, beneath portion 38 thereof and upwardly through opening 42. In this way the lower end of the rod is securely anchored to the plate 14.

openings 32 and 44 and screwed into the door so as'to secure the bracket and plate in place.

With the parts secured in place the nut 28 U9 may be rotated to move the adjusting screw 24 l and pull and tighten or tension the rod 16. Accordingly as the rod is tensioned the lower corner of the door is supported against sagging or may be even pulled upwardly for trueing up the door.

In lieu of the screw 24 shown in Fig. 2 it may be desirable to employ a similar member 50 provided with a hook '52. With this a looped end of the tension rod may be readily engaged with the hook.

It will be noted that the leg 18 of the bracket is supported against the action of the tension rod by a member or members 20 located at the forward side of the leg which bear on the face of the door. Also as a special feature, the plate 14 is offset only enough to allow the end of the rod to pass thereunder. In this way the lower end of the rod is'anchored closely adjacent the face of the door while its upper end is suitably supported for adjustment in the bracket 12 all to the end that a maximum tension may be established in the rod for the most efficient reenforcing and supporting effect.

Having described the invention what I now desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

A bracket for a door anti-sag apparatus comprising in combination, a flange having a lower face for lying against a door provided with means for receiving fastening means whereby said flange may be fastened to said door, a leg integral with said extending upwardly therefrom at the forward side thereof provided with an opening for receiving a tensioning connection, and brace members integral with said leg extending forwardly in spaced relation from said leg at opposite sides thereof and away from said flange, said brace members being out of contact with said flan e and their lower sides being substantially flush with the lower face of said flange for hearing on a door adjacent and forwardly of said flange to brace said leg forwardly of the flange.

ALBERT E. WOOD. 

